Underwater Search For Missing Plane Reveals Shipwreck

Update: An air-crash expert believes that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was intentionally brought down to the ocean, The Guardian reported.

Larry Vance, a world-leading air-crash investigator, said that a section of the plane's wing recovered a year ago was extended at the time of the landing. Vance told the Australian TV program 60 Minutes that the section, called the flaperon, can only be extended by a person.

"Somebody was flying the airplane at the end of its flight," he said, according to the BBC. "Somebody was flying the airplane into the water. There is no other alternate theory that you can follow."

The official investigation is still looking into whether the plane was piloted during its final moments. The MH370 disappeared over two years ago with 239 people on board.

Update: March 2, 2016: A piece of debris that could be from a Boeing 777 has been found off the coast of Mozambique. A U.S. official told CNN that the piece of wreckage could be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

The newly discovered debris was sent to Malaysia to be examined. The piece of wreckage could be from the plane's horizontal stabilizer, which is the wing-like part attached to the plane's tail, reports NBC News. It also has the words "NO STEP" on it, according to NBC.

Malaysia Airlines said it was "too speculative at this point" to comment. Malaysia's Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai, also urged caution until the debris could be analyzed.

But officials did make one curious discovery last month: a centuries-old shipwreck.

On Wednesday, officials confirmed that the massive Australian-led underwater search effort had used sonar to pinpoint an apparently man-made object resting on the ocean floor off of Australia's west coast, Reutersreports.

An underwater drone was dispatched to further examine the find, which is believed to be made of steel or iron. Authorities confirmed it was a shipwreck, and experts at the Western Australian Museum said the wreckage most likely dates from the turn of the 19th century, according to a statement.

Photo: Courtesy of Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Interestingly, this is not the first shipwreck found during the hunt for MH370. Last May, the search effort turned up the wreckage of what was believed to be another 19th-century vessel, possibly a cargo ship, reports Reuters.

Three ships are still scouring the ocean floor, but have found no trace of the plane after 22 months of sweeping an area roughly the size of South Carolina, NBC News reports. The search — the most expensive in history — is expected to wrap by the middle of this year, according to Reuters.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew. In July of last year, debris from the plane — a flaperon wing part, according to NBC News— was found washed up on the French island of La Reunion. The part was the first piece of evidence showing that the plane had crashed into the sea.

Subsequent reports of other debris from the doomed aircraft washing ashore on La Reunion, including a suitcase and door, were not confirmed, reports The New York Times. Since then, no further trace of the Malaysian airliner has been found.